It takes
10 full
cacao
pods
to make
6 bars
of chocolate.
(I apologize that I was unable to get this out sooner -- been swamped; some of this information will be a bit late for the holiday though hopefully still useful if for no other reason for expanding our ideas of what we can do now and in the future and see as possible).
So, I was kicking around the Tube the other day, try to figure out how the heck I was going to start and end this diary and I stumbled upon a video of a guy from Holland who had himself arrested for eating 19 bars of chocolate then insisted the government prosecute him for slave trafficking since he knowingly ate a substance enriched by forced child labor.
He even went so far as to start internet petitions and then he started his own company, Tony Chocolonely, selling slave-free chocolate.
Still, I wasn't going to do much more than provide a link to the video (not even embedding) but in trying to gather something together to post I just kept coming across this guy's story. It's very compelling.
Time Magazine
AMSTERDAM
Slaves to Chocolate?
By LAUREN COMITEAU
Friday, May. 25, 2007
The Amsterdam offices of TV producers Teun van de Keuken and Maurice Dekkers are pretty much what you'd expect: an editing room, a storage room, and a room with a scenic fake backdrop for filming interviews. The only clue that this isn't movie business as usual is the boxes and boxes of T-shirts and bright red-wrapped chocolate bars scattered on almost every surface.
"I never thought I'd be a candy man," says Van de Keuken with a laugh. "But that's what the job asks from me for now." Teun — or Tony — is certainly an unlikely chocolatier. A journalist and filmmaker, he produces a popular Michael Moore-style consumer advocacy TV program. But after learning that in Cote d'Ivoire, which produces some 40% of the world's cocoa, tens of thousands of children are forced to work on plantations, many of them in virtual slavery, the chocolate lover became a chocolate maker.
And being a filmaker, he made a movie (yes, that's him in the poster):
"It's so strange that we in our rich Western society eat our chocolate without thinking about it," says Van de Keuken. "We just want to pay the lowest possible price, and in another part of the world, these people are forced to work in the most horrific circumstances."
The filmmaker's first act of protest was personal. One day he ate 19 chocolate bars and then turned himself into police for knowingly buying a product made with slave labor, something he says is criminal under Dutch law. "At first, I just called the police and said I did a terrible thing. They said, 'Don't worry, we all eat chocolate, good-bye.' Then I hired a lawyer."
Tony & The "Slave-Free" Chocolate Factory -- 3:27
Children are sold for about $30 and as little as $10 lured from their parents and other countries with the promise of being able to send money home... and often dreams of a bike too.
From a site dedicated to the child slavery issue around chocolate:
There are about 600,000 cocoa farms in Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). Estimates of the number of children forced to work as slaves on these farms are as high as 15,000 (Save the Children Canada). In addition to the very illegality of trafficking and hiring children workers, the implicated cocoa farmers subject the children to inhuman living conditions. Besides overworking them, the farmers do not pay the children nor feed them properly-often times they are allowed to eat corn paste as their only meal. The denigration also includes locking the children up at night to prevent escape. Although it is only one of many occurrences of bonded labor, Aly Diabate's experience on a cocoa farm still illustrates how this torture strips away the dignity of children.
Aly Diabate, who is from Mali, was eleven years old when he was lured in Mali by a slave trader to go work on an Ivorian farm. The locateur told him that not only would he receive a bicycle, but he could also help his parents with the $150 he would earn. However life on the cocoa farm of "Le Gros" (or "Big Man") was nothing like Aly had imagined. He and the other workers had to work from six in the morning to about 6:30 at night on the cocoa fields. Since Aly was only about four feet tall, the bags of cocoa beans were taller than him. To be able to carry and transport the bags, other people would have to place the bags onto his head for him. Because the bags were so heavy, he had trouble carrying them and always fell down. The farmer would beat him until he stood back up and lifted the bag again. Aly was beaten the most because the farmer accused him of never working hard enough. The little boy still has the scars left from the bike chains and cocoa tree branches that Le Gros used. He and the other slaves were not fed well either. They had to subsist on a few burnt bananas.
(Not Aly but a representative picture of the scars left after the beatings these children endure)
Yet when nightfall came, Aly's torture did not end. He and eighteen other slave workers had to stay in their one room that measured 24-by-20 feet. The boys all slept on a wooden plank. There was but one small hole just big enough to let in some air. Aly and the others had to urinate in a can, because once they went into the room, they were not allowed to leave. To ensure this, Le Gros would lock the room.
Despite the horrendous conditions that he was living in, Aly was too afraid to escape. He had seen others who had attempted escapes, only to be brutally beaten after they got caught. However one day, a boy from the farm successfully escaped and reported Le Gros to the authorities. They arrested the farmer and sent the boys back home. The police made Le Gros pay Aly $180 for the eighteen months he had worked. Now Aly is back with his parents in Mali, but the scars, both physical and psychological still remain. He admitted that after he first came back from the farm, he had nightmares about the beatings every night. Aly was fortunate that the authorities were alerted about the slavery that was present at Le Gros' farm, but many other children are not as lucky and are still being subjected to the beatings and overall dehumanization on these cocoa farms
.
Regarding an event to draw attention to the issue just this last Valentine's Day:
...
The following companies, more accustomed to selling Valentine’s Day gifts than receiving them, were surprised with bouquets of fair trade certified roses: Archer Daniels Midland, Barry Callebaut, Hershey, Mars, Blommers, Nestle, Cargill, World’s Finest Chocolate and Guittard Chocolate Company. The note read, “At Valentines Day, we talk about commitment. Chocolate manufacturers it's time to make a REAL commitment TODAY to 1) END abusive child labor & 2) SIGN Commitment to Ethical Cocoa Sourcing - Commitment Signatories.” The “Commitment to Ethical Cocoa Sourcing” is a joint statement signed by almost 60 organizations and chocolate companies outlining steps they agree to take to eliminate harmful labor conditions from their cocoa supply chains. The document is available online.
Since the story of child labor, including trafficked and forced labor, on cocoa farms in West Africa broke in 2001, the major chocolate companies represented by the Chocolate Manufacturers Association have not taken appropriate action to stop labor abuses in their supply chains. Most recently, the major chocolate companies have distorted the definition of “certification” which they are required to implement in 50% of their cocoa supply chain by July 2008 under the Harkin-Engel Protocol.
...
Of course the original Harkin-Engel agreement very generously gave these companies until 2005 to get a handle on their poor purchasing practices. Now it looks as if they won't even be able to certify half three years after their plea for an extension.
In fact this magazine, (which can be read via AccessMyLibrary or likely found for sale via eBay) for children about children around the world (a subscription makes a lovely gift) reported on child working conditions a year after the first deadline
FACES “Chocolate Coated Slavery”
April 2006 (Child Labor issue)
Life is no box of chocolates for children on cacao (ke-KAY-oh) plantations. Young children are forced to harvest cacao seeds, also called cocoa beans, the main ingredient in chocolate. Sadly, these children have never even tasted chocolate.
The western African countries of Ivory Coast and Ghana produce 72 percent of the world's cacao. The price of cacao keeps dropping because buyers demand cheaper beans. To make money, growers can't afford to pay their workers.
Many growers resort to buying child slaves--sometimes for as little as ten dollars apiece. Thousands of children ages 9 to 16 are sold or tricked into slavery. They work 12 to 14 hours a day spraying deadly pesticides, carrying sharp machetes up 25-foot trees, and hauling heavy bags of beans. They are paid nothing, barely fed, and regularly beaten.
In June 2001, Knight Ridder newspapers uncovered this modern-day slavery. U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (of Iowa) and U.S. Congressman Eliot Engel (of New York) knew they had to stop this practice. "When I learned of children being sold into slavery to work in the cocoa fields of the Ivory Coast, I was horrified," Engel said
So who benefits? Well, Money magazine wasn't all that hesitant to name the big names in this recent article:
FEBRUARY 15 2008:
Chocolate's bittersweet economy
Seven years after the industry agreed to abolish child labor, little progress has been made.
By Christian Parenti
...
The big cocoa exporters - Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM, Fortune 500), Barry Callebaut and Saf-Cacao - do not own plantations and do not directly employ child workers. Instead, they buy beans from Ivorian middlemen called pisteurs and treton. These middlemen own warehouses and fleets of flatbed trucks that travel deep into the jungle to buy cocoa from the small independent farmers who grow most of the crop. But labor and human rights activists charge that Big Chocolate has an obligation to improve working conditions on the farms where so many children toil. They argue that the exporters and manufacturers bear ultimate responsibility for conditions on the farms because they exert considerable control over world cocoa markets, essentially setting what is called the farm gate price.
A mandate versus protocol
The controversy came to a head in 2001, when U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) introduced legislation mandating a labeling system for chocolate. The industry fought back, and a compromise was reached establishing a voluntary protocol by which chocolate companies would wean themselves from child labor, then certify that they had done so. The certification process would not involve labeling of products, but it would call for public reporting by African governments, third-party verification and poverty remediation by 2005. When none of those deadlines was met, the protocol was extended until July 2008. To turn up the heat, the U.S. Department of Labor contracted with Tulane University to monitor progress.
...
What would make a difference? "Better prices."
Down the road from Sinikosson is the warehouse of Aboulaye Trooré, who buys the cocoa harvested in the area. "It is all going to Cargill," Trooré says, as some of his men unload 150-pound bags of cocoa from a truck.
The farmers in Sinikosson do not know that Cargill buys their beans, but other farmers in the area are on painfully intimate terms with the Minnesota company. In the town of Thoui, members of a local farmers' cooperative say that borrowing money from Cargill has trapped them in debt and forced some of them to take their kids out of school and put them to work. "There is no other way we can buy fertilizer or feed our families throughout the year," says N'guessan Norbert Walle, a former president of the cooperative.
If farmers can't pay back their debts, they risk arrest. When Walle ran the co-op, his manager was jailed, he says, on orders from Cargill. The arrested manager, Lucien Adje, a former accounting student, says he was taken to the port city of San Pedro and put in a small cell. "You had to do everything in one place - you know, urinate, defecate. I couldn't eat much, it was so filthy."
The correct procedure for collecting debts is to go to court and seize collateral, so Adje's arrest was illegal. But, as one farmer explained, "In Ivory Coast, the illegal is normal." An executive at an Ivorian export company confirmed that such arrests take place. "I don't know the specifics, but I do know that some exporters have arrested people who owe them money."
[emphasis added]
Well now, isn't that Cargill a piece of work?
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But there is much you can do, and especially now that you know who suffers how can you not taste the blood, sweat, and tears from the children who will forever suffer from soul's lost for something they might never get to taste themselves?
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FAIR TRADE, EQUITRADE, AND MORE
From Global Exchange comes this explanation of Fair Trade:
Fair Trade involves the following principles:
♥ Producers receive a fair price - a living wage. For commodities, farmers receive a stable, minimum price.
♥ Forced labor and exploitative child labor are not allowed
♥ Buyers and producers trade under direct long-term relationships
♥ Producers have access to financial and technical assistance
♥ Sustainable production techniques are encouraged
♥ Working conditions are healthy and safe
♥ Equal employment opportunities are provided for all
♥ All aspects of trade and production are open to public accountability
There's action one can take at their site:
Help Raise the Bar on Chocolate Fundraising
Send World's Finest a Free Fax Today!
Over 40,000 schools and youth groups depend on World’s Finest Chocolate for their annual fundraisers. The profits from these sales support a wide range of causes and make up an integral part of many school budgets. Yet while nearly fifty cents of every one-dollar bar goes to support local schools or charity groups, scarcely pennies reach impoverished cocoa farmers and their families. Global Exchange is working with schools, churches and charitable groups across the country to call upon World’s Finest to broaden the good that our communities can do in using its fundraising bars by offering Fair Trade.
And action regarding the incredible stinginess of M&M/Mars who I've written more about in my last two diaries on chocolate but for which Global Exchange also has a well done page regarding for more information.
Meanwhile, Co-op America points out Nestle could be the company that benefits the most from slavery and near-slavery conditions given that they are involved in not just chocolate but are one of the two largest consumers of coffee and tea as well.
You can find a table with a list of chocolates, although not all of them, along with whether they are free trade and/or organic to help make your purchasing decisions, along with much more information on the slavery issue as it pertains to chocolate. There is also a Take Action page with several things to do
Below is some information on several of the Fair Trade and Fairly Traded Chocolates that are out there as alternatives to the mass produced slavery tinged industrial chocolate (which often enriches NeoCons keeping them in power). I've focused on the organic as well since it's just so important for the continued success of the land and the forests as well as the people, especially if we want to keep having chocolate well into our advancing years. By being organic there is also no GMO ingredients (thank you Monsanto & Friends) which is pretty much impossible to expect otherwise anymore.
I'm also trying to focus more on those I haven't said much before in my previous diaries on chocolates as they are actually doing much more and pulling those who could do a lot along, kicking and screaming. For instance, I just discovered that Green & Black's which is part of Cadbury Schweppes (one of the biggest buyers of world chocolate -- this is their big holiday coming up) only has a couple bars that are Fair Trade though they seem to play on putting the idea out there that all of them are (danged corps). Also, as in the past, I haven't included here Seeds of Change as they were bought out a few years ago by M&M/Mars (Dove) and so are actually pretty much part of the problem now rather than the solution.
Cocoa Camino/La Siembra Fair Trade and Organic
La Siembra Co-operative, founded in 1999, produces Fair Trade Certified and certified organic Cocoa Camino products. Our mission is to offer high-quality Fair Trade Certified organic chocolate, cocoa and sugar products that improve the livelihoods of family farmers and the well-being of communities at home and abroad. We choose to identify with our producer partners by adopting the same democratic, participatory and transparent model that they follow in their own co-operatives.
At La Siembra Co-operative, we are committed to the highest ethical and environmental standards in bringing you some of the finest Fair Trade Certified and organic chocolate, cocoa and sugar products on the market. We are pioneers of Fair Trade Certified cocoa and sugar products in North America and buy our organic ingredients from producers according to audited Fair Trade principles, at a fair price that supports the livelihoods of our producer partners.
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Divine is the Fairtrade Chocolate Company co-owned by the cocoa farmers cooperative Kuapa Kokoo in Ghana (next door to the Ivory Coast), who not only receive a fair price for their cocoa but also share in the company's profit.
The Cocoa Farmer Kuapa Kokoo cooperative was created in 1993 when cocoa farmers in Ghana united to negotiate better prices for their cocoa and empower small farmers. Kuapa Kokoo now represents nearly 45,000 cocoa farmers and has a stake in the first farmer-owned chocolate company in the world, the Day Chocolate Company (now named Divine Chocolate). Because of company's unique partnership model, the cocoa farmers in Ghana participate directly in the decisions made by the organization and share in any potential profits.
Divine has chocolate mini-eggs available through A Greater Gift.
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El Ray is a long established company in Venezuela.
We at Chocolates El Rey take personal pride in this assertion because since our founding in 1929 we have utilized only this premium grade, locally grown raw material in the formulation of all our products. And we make, quite simply, the best chocolate in Venezuela. Today , as our products cross new borders and serve new consumers, we are confident that these will indeed establish a new and exciting dimension of excellence in a market with well-defined standards in which novelties are few and far between.
We’re a family business, one of the oldest chocolate manufacturers in Venezuela – in fact, one of the oldest industrial concerns in the country and we have built our reputation on basic principles of uncompromising quality, team effort, constant technological innovation and by earning the satisfaction of our customers.
ORGANICALLY AND NATURALLY GROWN
El Rey offers consumers gourmet chocolate made from fairly traded cacao beans direct from small and large-scale growers in Venezuela. In our business there is no extraordinary cast of middlemen, otherwise known as “coyotes”, who pay the lowest price to growers. On the contrary, El Rey seeks to balance the inequities found in the conventional third world trade by having established Aprocao, which is a democratically run cooperative managed by El Rey and which pays above-market prices for its cacao beans.
Our trading partners are small growers and large who deal directly with Aprocao without intermediaries. Through Aprocao El Rey teaches growers how to manage the soil in a sustainable agricultural system promoting natural cycles without chemical pesticides or fertilizers and how to ferment each cacao harvest to earn the best price. To quote PCC Natural Markets, “El Rey Chocolate also pays a premium to the Venezuelan farmers that grow its cacao, …"
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Endangered Species donates 10% of profits to species, habitat, and humanity.
Bug Bites sure to be a child's favorite from Endangered Species are just one of many ideas they have for Easter treats which include Chimp Mints and Hoppy Treats.
REVERENCE FOR LIFE
Here, our core value is Reverence for Life, which is modeled after renowned humanitarian Albert Schweitzer’s ethic of the same name. We believe all life is precious and deserving of our respect, kindness and care, and this Reverence for Life ethic is at the heart of each our business practices.
ETHICAL TRADE
Our cocoa is 100% ethically traded. Philosophically, ethical trade and fair trade are one in the very same. Up and through summer 2006, our organic chocolate products have been Fair Trade Certified™ through Trans Fair and our organic cocoa has been sourced at Conacado Co-op in the Dominican Republic. Effective summer of 2006, Endangered Species Chocolate will dedicate the dollars previously earmarked for Trans Fair certification to directly support the farmers in the Conacado Co-op, where we will continue to source our cocoa. Our sourcing program will continue to ensure the cocoa farmers in the Conacado Co-op a fair wage.
MORE THAN JUST A LIST
Our exquisite chocolate and colorful wrappers serve not only to increase awareness of species currently listed as threatened or endangered on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s Endangered Species List, but to inspire proactive conservation for animals confronting universal struggles such as habitat encroachment, poaching, and pollution. Our products aim to honor all flora and fauna that share this planet. All are invaluable…and sadly, all are vulnerable. Join us in taking care of one another and our Earth. It’s time
.
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Equal Exchange is a coop based in Massachusetts is an early adapter of the Fair Trade concept and have probably taken it further than any others in that they have not just chocolate but coffee (the first product actually I believe), cocoa, tea, sugar, cotton, bananas, almonds, pecans, cranberries, and more.
A Vision of Fairness to Farmers
Fairness to farmers. A closer connection between people and the farmers we all rely on.
This was the essence of the vision that the three Equal Exchange founders — Rink Dickinson, Jonathan Rosenthal, and Michael Rozyne — held in their minds and hearts as they stood together on a metaphorical cliff back in 1986.
The three, who had met each other as managers at a New England food co-op, were part of a movement to transform the relationship between the public and food producers. At the time, however, these efforts didn’t extend to farmers outside of the U.S.
The founders decided to meet once a week — and did so for three years — to discuss how best to change the way food is grown, bought, and sold around the world. At the end of this time they had a plan for a new organization called Equal Exchange that would be:
♥ A social change organization that would help farmers and their families gain more control over their economic futures.
♥ A group that would educate consumers about trade issues affecting farmers.
♥ A provider of high-quality foods that would nourish the body and the soul.
♥ A company that would be controlled by the people who did the actual work.
♥ A community of dedicated individuals who believed that honesty, respect, and mutual benefit are integral to any worthwhile endeavor.
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Grenada is somewhat unique in that it runs the entire operation from growing to finished product pretty much all in the same area as well as selling most of the product domestically so it has maximum benefit to the people living in the area rather than taking the harvested and fermented seeds to Europe or the US to make into chocolate. Plus their plant is solar powered.
Radical Chocolate -- 6:46
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Ithaca Fine Chocolates of New York is known for their Art Bars.
Ithaca Fine Chocolates is the first U.S. chocolate company to offer Fair Trade Certified chocolates. ALL of our products are Fair Trade Certified. Fair Trade fosters self-reliance in small-scale cocoa farmers, which effectively raises their living standards.
Practices include:
♥ guaranteeing consistent and equitable prices to farmers despite the volatile cocoa market
♥ improving social conditions in producers' communities by enabling them to afford basic health care and education
♥ ensuring no forced child labor
♥ promoting sustainable, shade-grown, organic farming techniques that safeguard both the environment and the livelihood of the producers
♥ helping to establish and support farmer-owned, democratic cooperatives
Malagasy - Totally crafted in Madagascar
Origin chocolate, produced at origin ...
Seventypercent, as you may have noticed, is all about origin chocolate - chocolate made from cocoa beans from a single country, plantation or variety. We're very happy that the interest in this fairly new concept just keeps on growing, with more and more fine chocolate manufacturers coming up with their own offerings.
Most origin chocolate though is made from cacao beans bought from the developing world and then processed into chocolate in Europe or the US - and even though the fine chocolate makers are likely to pay a much better price for the beans they buy than the big industrial candy makers, the amount they pay can still be a fraction of the value of the finished chocolate.
Mascao Chocolade at least at one time had an agreement with Oxfam.
Mascao is the world's first fair-trade chocolate. It is a 100% natural product: all ingredients originate from controlled organic farming. Its exquisite flavour is the result of a perfect combination of fine cocoa and cane sugar. No vegetable fats other than cocoa butter are employed for the preparation of Mascao. This chocolate does not contain soy lecithin.
The cocoa is grown in Bolivia and in the Dominican Republic by small-scale farmers with the use of organic farming methods. Cane sugar comes from the Philippines.
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Montezuma sources from Dominican Republic and Peru. Such a great rant on their site which it seems has been toned down from it's original content (wish I hadn't miss that).
"Super" Markets!
Our concerns extend further into the limitations of the Fairtrade mark when it comes to the UK food market. Part of what Fairtrade stands for by its very definition should be equity and fairness in the entire food chain, from grower, processor, shipper, manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer and not just the price the grower gets.
The problem as we see it is that in the UK much of that equity and fairness has been throttled out of the food market by a handful of dominant and dangerously powerful retailers. These retailers maintain such a stranglehold over the market that they are able to act almost with impunity and their suppliers and other ‘partners’ won’t speak up for fear of being unceremoniously dropped.
It is well documented and openly discussed among manufacturers that ‘sharp’ practice is commonplace and for readers who are interested should begin by reading two interesting little books: Not on the Label: What Really Goes into the Food on Your Plate by Felicity Lawrence and Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets by Joanna Blythman.
In essence price is always being squeezed down the supply chain. What this means isn’t necessarily cheaper or indeed better food, is means despite some “nice words to the contrary” that in the main, only the biggest manufacturers can afford to supply those retailers and hence they have to squeeze their suppliers on price; that means the large players get larger and squeeze everybody else, including the growers. Incidentally that includes British farmers!
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Omanhene is another that works with workers' co-ops in Ghana only they are, like Grenada now producing the chocolate in country as well.
For generations, the family cocoa farms of Ghana have produced beans of wondrous quality. Ghanaian farmers harvest the ripe cocoa pods by hand, ferment the beans between banana leaves right on the forest floor and then dry the beans in the warm African sun. To this day, European and American chocolatiers buy cocoa beans from Ghana and export them to their chocolate factories throughout the world where the famed Ghanaian beans are transformed into some of the world's most delicious and expensive chocolate.
Now, for the first time, The Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company is producing world class chocolate entirely in Ghana using beans The Financial Times calls "the finest cocoa in the world." Steven C. Wallace founded the company in February, 1991, at the age of 29 convinced that if Ghana could grow the "world's finest cocoa", it ought to be able to produce some of the world's finest chocolate. Wallace's interest in Ghana began in 1978 when, as a sixteen year-old, AFS high school foreign exchange student, he lived in the town of Sunyani located in the fertile Brong-Ahafo region of the country. His host family was a traditional Ghanaian family consisting of his host father, his three wives and twenty-one children.
Omanhene has proven itself one of the most successful and creative joint ventures between the U.S. and Ghana. We have won accolades from United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, Shirley Temple (former ambassador to Ghana) and President Jimmy Carter. We produce value-added gourmet chocolate tailored specifically to export markets resulting in enhanced foreign exchange revenues for Ghana.
The sale of Omanhene chocolate results in higher revenues and consequently higher wages for both workers at the chocolate factory and for local cocoa farmers. Since cocoa is a commodity crop, farm incomes in Ghana are subject to world cocoa price fluctuations. Ghanaian cocoa farmers have previously been forced to abandon their farms when world cocoa prices stagnate.
Omanhene also works with non-profit groups to help with raising funds, providing a wonderful alternative to "World's Finest" Chocolate.
Rapunzel calls their Fair Trade program Hand in Hand.
Rapunzel Pure Organic Swiss Chocolate is the world's first 100% organic chocolate bar available globally. Since 1987, the renowned Swiss chocolate-maker Maestrani has been making chocolate especially for Rapunzel, using our highest quality organic ingredients. This combination of ingredients and expertise produces a chocolate superior in taste and quality.
Made the True to NatureTM Way, most of our bars are sweetened with Rapadura, Rapunzel's whole organic evaporated sugar cane juice.
I knew there was a patent on Rapadura but didn't know until now it was held by Rapunzel; I feel better about it now as that means it too is Fair Trade and organic.
Perfect for Easter Baskets:
Divine is known for their Lady Truffles -- Milk chocolate covered hazelnut truffle crème crafted into a lady bug design and wrapped in a vibrant read, black and silver foil.
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Satander is a wholly Columbian Fair Trade chocolate.
For over half a century this company has been promoting good cultivation practices among growers like the use of organic fertilizers, species improvement and soil protection through adequate shading in planted forests that protect water sources and mountain slopes.
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Shaman also has roots in Columbia with a focus on an indigenous tribe with strong ties to the ancient and origin of chocolate.
Chocolate is considered sacred by the Huichol Indians and is seen as a gift from paradise. The Huichols are a small tribe of approximately 15,000 living in Mexico's Sierra Madre Mountains, and are perhaps the last tribe in North America to have retained their pre- Columbian traditions. They have used chocolate in ceremonies since ancient times, leaving offerings of chocolate to show their love for Mother Earth. The Huichols know that gifts of chocolate help people develop and strengthen a mutual love with the earth and each other.
Brant Secunda, a shaman, healer and ceremonial leader in this sacred tradition, created Shaman Chocolates after a visionary dream, as a way to support the economic and cultural survival of the Huichols. Shaman Chocolates are made from the finest organic ingredients, and are available in 5 delicious flavors: dark chocolate, dark chocolate with raspberries, dark chocolate with coconut, milk chocolate and milk chocolate with hazelnuts. Our beautifully wrapped bars feature authentic visionary Huichol artwork, and all profits go to support the Huichol Indians.
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Sweet Earth Organics based in California also has a Fund Raising program in place for non-profits and seems to focus on beans from West Africa. You can read more about how they work with the growers there at their blog.
Why Should I Purchase Organic, Fair Trade-certified™ Chocolate?
- Promotes biodiversity
- Sustainable practices
- Elimination of exposure of children to nasty chemicals normally used on cocoa
- No fumigants used during export.
- Fairer prices for the farmer.
- More of the farmers’ children go to school
- Gender equality
- Diversification to promote economic health.
- No child slavery.
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Taza Stone Ground Chocolates uses all organic ingredients and:
is a true bean-to-bar chocolate maker located in Somerville, Massachusetts, and is the only maker of 100% stone ground chocolate in the United States. Taza sources organically grown cacao beans directly from small farming cooperatives ensuring those farmers receive more than fair trade prices for their high quality cacao. Taza is uniquely positioned as one of the only independently owned, socially and environmentally responsible chocolate makers in the country.
Apparently also is Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Soy Free...
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Terra Nostra is unique in that it has Ricemilk bars for lactose intolerant and vegans.
Terra Nostra ~ Gourmet Organic Chocolate
Terra Nostra certified organic chocolate is known in the industry for its magnificent taste, sensuously silky texture, and luxuriant finish. Each Terra Nostra Organic chocolate truffle or bar represents the work of five generations of chocolatiers. Our innovative techniques and high cocoa content result in flavor experiences that truly bring magic to the palate!
Fair Trade and Proud of It!
Terra Nostra is a founding member of Equi-Trade (now called Equitable Trade), which gives the farmers fair trade and beyond with organic chocolate production. Our organic chocolates are made from the highest quality raw materials which have been organically grown, harvested and compassionately processed. This process ensures a gourmet chocolate that delivers a robust and intense earthy cacao taste.
Announcing: the Gourmet Food Academy Award
We are proud to announce that our organic chocolate bars judged by the highly regarded International Taste and Quality Institute (www.itqi.org) of Brussels, Belgium, received the prestigious Superior Taste Award. ITQI awards are among the most coveted in the gourmet food world, equivalent to winning an Academy Award or Olympic medals.
Gourmet Chocolates for the Lactose Sensitive
If you or someone you know is lactose intolerant, you may be looking for a non dairy chocolate. For non dairy chocolates, we offer Ricemilk bars, as well as specialty gluten free chocolate. Shop online for our gourmet non-dairy ingredient chocoolates, for yourself or as a gift.
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Theo Chocolates also does the very arty 3400 Phinney Chocolate Factory Organic Bars from Seattle. I discovered these last year and they're a lot of fun. Different flavors I've never seen before include Coconut Curry (which I love), Chai Tea, and Bread & Chocolate (which is actual buttered crisp bread crumbs in the bar -- very different). According to their website they are the first and only organic, Fair Trade Certified roaster of cacao in the United States:
... sourcing cacao from small farmers in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama, Ghana, Madagascar, Venezuela, and the Ivory Coast. Theo's small team is guided by a passion for chocolate, care for the environment, and dedication to enriching the lives of everyone involved, including cacao farmers and chocolate lovers.
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Vintage Plantations is the only one I've been able to find that is also Rain Forest Alliance Certified so that makes them extra-cool in my book. I'd never even heard of them before Friday.
100% Rainforest Alliance Certified Sustainable Cocoa Program Plantations allows you to experience the uniquely rich Ecuadorian Naciónal aromas in baking or tasting bars from 65% to 100% cocoa. The 100% Naciónal bar and baking chocolate is completely sugar-free.
Established in 1993 to source premium varietal chocolates from select cocoa plantations, eChocolates.com (also known as Vintage Chocolate Imports) stocks and distributes 1,500 raw, semi-finished and finished chocolates throughout North America. eChocolates.com facilitates market access for small cacao growers who employ sustainable agricultural methods.
eChocolates.com was founded by Mr. Pierrick Chouard, who after earning an Engineering Degree in Tropical Agronomics, worked for the major chocolatiers of the world (including M&M Mars, Neuhaus and Leonidas). He has been in the chocolate business for over 16 years. Mr. Chouard founded eChocolates.com to share the knowledge he has accumulated on cocoa and chocolates, as well as to provide consumers with a full-service online source for top quality chocolates and cacao products often unavailable at the local store.
Recognizing that chocolate makers typically lacked an understanding of cacao, the relevance of preserving traditional varieties, and the importance of protecting the sources and modes of production of their key ingredient, Mr. Chouard founded the University of Chocolate in 2000. The mission of the University of Chocolate is to educate everyone in the cocoa and commodity chain on all aspects of cocoas to better understand the challenges ahead, as well as to safeguard a commodity which is one of the keystones of most agriculturally-based societies in the third world.
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eChocolates.com strives to be the direct access to market for chocolate makers that cannot afford traditional channels for marketing their products. Its mission is to reward independent, quality-oriented and creative chocolate makers, interested in safeguarding heirloom cocoas and quality chocolates, by securing outlets both offline and on our site at www.echocolates.com.
eChocolates.com leads the fight to protect the genetic diversity of aromatic cocoas. Our beans are always bought from quality-driven and, primarily, organic plantation owners. Vintage Chocolates, the importing arm of the company, defends and promotes the original taste of chocolate, and works against its degradation into a synthetic, flavored commodity; a recurring trend in the food industry.
eChocolates.com is also involved in many projects with the nonprofit organization, the Rainforest Alliance, to promote sustainable cocoa growing practices that benefit cocoa planters and protect the environment.
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Vivani a German brand was the most unusual I ran across actually in how they communicate. The explanations of how they work with the people seem a bit harsh and cold (surprising things such as the words, "so-called" which precede "developing" countries) as they seem to be more concerned with what Fair Trade brings them rather than does for the growers but I'm going to try to chalk it up flaws in Teutonic language translation. Besides, if it works...
Farmers are most concerned about the organic production of their crops. There are two important aspects to the ban on pesticides. On the one hand farmers and their environment are less vulnerable to health problems. On the other hand they are able to make themselves more independent in financial matters because they can save a lot of money by eliminating pesticides and fertilisers.
Moreover simple measures to re-establish the balance of nature by growing cacao trees alongside other crops like oranges, bananas, guavas, avocados, coconut trees and a variety of root crops can help fight off many of the diseases that can decimate cocoa crops.
SMALL FARMING COOPERATIVES AND ORGANIC AGRICULTURE
Many Third World projects operating according to the principles of organic farming have already succeeded in guaranteeing their farmers modest profits to cover production costs and ensure a living wage. Their living conditions have improved dramatically and many are now free from debt.
But the most important requirement needed to preserve this newly-found basis for their livelihood is a network of trading partners who are committed to purchasing their products.
VIVANI CHOCOLATE LOVERS INVEST IN THE FUTURE
Of course this commitment mainly depends on consumers who are willing to pay higher prices for organic chocolate. Thus by buying VIVANI products you are benefiting not only your own-well-being but also giving farmers in Latin America and Africa the chance to engage in healthy agricultural techniques.
Can there be any more important reasons for eating organic chocolate?
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Vosgeses seems to be a young up & coming company with daring and striking flavors even bolder than Theo and while they aren't fully in with the Fair Trade/Organic scene yet it does seem they are trying hard to get there. I do despise their website though. Tricked out does not mean friendlier and more product sold.
Have a gourmet Easter with these tasty (and very cute) floppy eared chocolate bunnies. Try one of five delicious flavors: Red Fire (Chilies and Cinnamon), Naga (Curry and Coconut), Black Pearl (Wasabi and Sesame), Gianduja (Hazlenuts and Almonds), and Barcelona (Almonds and Sea Salt).
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Yachana Gourmet has a product called Jungle Chocolate which best I can tell is something like a rainforest granola or something. Apparently highly regarded and has Co-op America's seal of approval on their Green Pages.
They also have YouTube videos about their work up for us to watch (which I've found helps solidify information read when I can watch some of it in action).
Part 1 -- 8:14 minutes
Part 2 -- 7:45
Yachana Gourmet brings you Yachana Jungle Chocolate direct from the Amazon rainforest. Jungle Chocolate is the world's purest, most flavorful chocolate, made from all-natural ingredients, such as "cacao nacional", the most aromatic and rich variety of chocolate bean on the planet.
Yachana Gourmet produces Jungle Chocolate with Pineapple and Jungle Chocolate with Macadamia Nuts as well as Jungle Chocolate with Brazil Nuts and Essence of Coffee and Jungle Chocolate with Raisins and Coconut. Moreover, Yachana Gourmet is continually developing tasty, new flavors of all natural Fair Trade Chocolate for the discerning palate.
The Fair Trade Federation recognizes Yachana Gourmet as a responsible operator, and 100% of Yachana Gourmet's profits support the rain forest conservation and sustainable development programs of the Foundation for Integrated Education and Development (FUNEDESIN), a non-profit foundation dedicated to finding sustainable solutions in the struggle between the ideals of rain forest preservation and the realities of life in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
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Slo Chai Coins are both Fair Trade and Organic and infused with the lovely cinnamon and spices tea flavor.
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Chocolove, Dagoba, Equal Exchange, Sunspire and Terra Nostra are Kosher
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Of course chocolate is more than just a bar. It's also can be an incredible drink:
Coffee, Tea, Etc. has an organic, Fair Trade and certified shade grown cocoa with no milk additives so it can be made dairy-free with a milk alternative such as soy, rice, almond, hazelnut, hemp, or coconut milks, water or of course your own local and organic milk. :)
As well as Dean's Beans which is fully Fair Trade and recommended by Global Exchange. Organic & Fair Trade Hot Chocolate: Half the profits are returned to the indigenous growers cooperative in Costa Rica that supplies them with the cocoa
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And then there's chocolate syrup
Frontier and Equal Exchange also have an organic and Fair Trade certified Dutch process cocoa powder so you can make your own chocolate syrup for milk and ice cream and other treats.
Homemade Organic Chocolate Syrup
1-1/2 cups organic granulated sugar
1 cup sifted unsweetened organic Free Trade Dutch process cocoa powder
a pinch of salt
1 cup water
2 tsp. organic vanilla
In heavy-bottomed 2 quart pot, combine sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Whisk thoroughly to mix well. Gradually add water, stirring (not beating) with the whisk to blend thoroughly. Set over medium heat; stir frequently with whisk until mixture comes to a boil (there will probably be a layer of foam on top; it's OK). Boil for three minutes, stirring frequently with whisk, reducing heat if syrup seems likely to boil over. Remove from heat; pour into heatproof measuring cup or pitcher of at least 24 ounce capacity. Cool briefly, then chill (uncovered) until completely cold. Strain through fine strainer into container of at least 20 ounce capacity. Stir in vanilla. Store, covered, in refrigerator.
Note: For a slightly sweeter, slightly thinner syrup, add 2 additional tablespoons EACH of sugar and water at the beginning of the recipe.
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SOME OTHER SWEET TREAT IDEAS
Liz Lovely is a Vermont company and has organic, fair trade and vegan from candies and cookies to chocolate covered fruit and gummies.
Barbara's has kid friendly organic cookies
Several lollipops, hard candies (even peppermint), gummies, and other treats all organic as well as often gluten-free and kosher. Available in several places including Vegan Essentials and Food Fight.
Among those to be found there:
Yummy Earth Organic lollipops and drops (perfect for stashing in hunting eggs) which comes in great flavors such as Mango and Pomegranate.
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St. Claire's Truly Organic Mints and Tarts in several flavors (7 mint, 8 tart) including Lemon (Mmmm...) and sweet candies too, made with all organic and allergen-free ingredients with 10% of the profits donated to the Ethno-Medicine Preservation Project (EMPP) to support the preservation of the medicinal plant knowledge of indigenous cultures. They also have teas and cocoas including a Mandarin Hot Chocolate (oh gosh!) currently on sale! :)
St. Claire’s Organics™ makes certified organic candy. We manufacture GREAT tasting healthy candy! Our manufacturing facility is dedicated Allergen-free. This means our candy is Wheat-free, Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Casein-free, Soy-free, Egg-free, Peanut-free, Tree nut-free, Corn-free, and Fish and Shellfish-free. That is an impressive list of allergen-free items that St. Claire's Organics™ consumers do not have to worry about, and this is what makes St. Claire's Organics™ the child-friendly candy.
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Glee Gum is very interesting in that it has several Make-Your-Own Candy kits for children to make their own gum, chocolate and gummies (all organic) and which come with education not just sugar. Also one of the few gums you can get these days that doesn't contain aspartame (part of an upcoming diary for me).
Glee Gum is all natural chewing gum made with sustainably harvested rainforest chicle. It comes in FIVE great flavors: cinnamon, peppermint and tangerine and NEW spearmint and bubblegum. Glee Gum is the #1 healthy alternative to synthetic chewing gum and bubble gum! Freshen your breath with Glee, Naturally!
EGGS
I'm going to add some info in an update but I'm running out of time and space and just really want to get this up before Halloween. :]
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Not so Fun Fact
More than 20,000,000 Hershey's Kisses are wrapped each day, using 133 square miles of tinfoil. All that foil is recyclable, but not many people realize it.